(By Andres Rivas, The Long Island Advance 9/20/18)
After a war between West Islip and Bellport last week ended in a close loss, the Bellport Clippers got back on track, blowing out Smithtown East 48-7.
In last week’s showdown between the Lions and the Clippers, a rematch of the 2016 playoffs, the Lions outdueled the Clippers 29-28 in a game that went down to the wire. Before heading to the road, Bellport had one more game against Smithtown East, who defeated Copiague 42-13 in their first week of the 2018-19 season.
In the opening possession, Ka’Shaun Parrish threw a 40-yard ball to DJ Trent, which looked to be caught by him, as he had the ball in his hands when the play ended, but the referees ruled an interception. Smithtown East capitalized off of this, scoring a touchdown and leading 7-0, but from there on, the home team brought out its artillery.
After the kickoff, Parrish threw a 75-yard pass to Myles Wilson in the first play of the drive for a touchdown and Bellport trailed by one. In the second quarter, the Clippers scored 29 unanswered points. A factor that started this was Wilson blocking a punt inside the red zone with 11:38 remaining. Parrish then threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Pizzo, who ran for two extra points. Four minutes later, Trent found space and ran for 40 yards all the way to the end zone. Christian Moreno was in charge of adding the extra point.
With five minutes remaining, Wilson blocked the punt from the Bulls as Kyler Pizzo recovered the ball and ran for 44 yards all the way into the end zone and Moreno added the extra point. With a minute left in the half, Bellport got the ball back and reached the red zone, where Parrish rushed for six yards for a touchdown. Moreno added his third extra point of the afternoon.
The defense for the Clippers kept holding it down, refusing to let the visiting team convert on fourth down and on third downs, forcing them to punt or give the ball up. In the fourth quarter with a little under 10 minutes remaining, the Clippers were a threat as Jhamari Bell rushed for six yards into the end zone as Moreno added the extra point. The Clippers weren’t done, as Shaun Bolton rushed 60 yards to add six more to the board.
“We knew the game wasn’t going to be easy, but we battled back after facing adversity and came together and got the job done,” said Wilson. “We started clicking on offense and defense and we were happy with the result.”
Bellport (1-1) will now hit the road for the next two weeks, where they will face Centereach (1-1) and Smithtown West (2-0).
“We have to work hard all week; we need to key in on the little things. Most importantly, we have to be disciplined and focus on the little things,” added Trent.
(Courtesy of The Long Island Advance 9/20/18)